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AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

economist.com

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Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#41

Post by embedding-shape »

timmmmmmay wrote: post #30
raincole wrote: post #27

> One of this year’s AI buzzwords is “harness”—the system that surrounds an LLM to keep agents on the straight and narrow. It might just as well be barbed wire. Quite painful to read. It might be a useful introduction to AI for people who live under rocks for the past three years, but it's really weird that it's posted on HN.

I'm sure their coverage on other topics is truthful and informative though and it's only the ones where you know a lot about the topic where it's all a bunch of bullshit

Not saying you aren't right, you most likely are. But still, I'd expect a paper called "The Economist" to perhaps be slightly better at some topics than others. Probably from the perspective of a "A Economist" it doesn't really matter the technical details, they're interested in the story from a different perspective.

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#42

Post by jstummbillig »

raincole wrote: post #27

> One of this year’s AI buzzwords is “harness”—the system that surrounds an LLM to keep agents on the straight and narrow. It might just as well be barbed wire. Quite painful to read. It might be a useful introduction to AI for people who live under rocks for the past three years, but it's really weird that it's posted on HN.

There is value in understanding what people outside of your own group of "insiders" learn about a topic, and how.

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#43

Post by [deleted] »

Loughla wrote: post #37
timmmmmmay wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure their coverage on other topics is truthful and informative though and it's only the ones where you know a lot about the topic where it's all a bunch of bullshit

The first time I saw the comments here on an education article (my area of expertise and career focus), I realized just how full of shit most of us are. It made me really closely consider every comment here through a VERY critical lense. The articles are usually close but not quite accurate. The comments are usually entertaining but overall wildly inaccurate.

[deleted]

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#44

Post by Papazsazsa »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #3

AI and eventually AGI is by definition like everything else that is based on environmental reward: It’s actions are based on what it gets rewarded for Human society overwhelmingly rewards lying cheating and stealing. All you have to do is look at how we collectively measure success: wealth, status, position Then look at how the people with the most of those things got there, it should be obvious what you get. Nothing…

Human society overwhelmingly rewards lying cheating and stealing. All you have to do is look at how we collectively measure success: wealth, status, position.

It may seem like that due to the media amplification effect – but it really isn't true!

- They dropped 17,000 “lost” wallets across 40 countries were and found people were more likely to return them when they contained more money, showing honesty often beats the chance for easy gain. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aau8712

- Longitudinal personality studies consistently show that conscientious people earn more money, build more savings, and achieve greater career success over their lifetimes. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3498890/

- Multi-country research finds that societies w/higher levels of trust and honesty enjoy much higher GDP and stronger long-term economic growth. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01672...

Don't let the algo get you down fellas: https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.c...

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#45

Post by hnbad »

pbohun wrote: post #23

People are finally understanding consequentialist vs deontological ethics. All the worst criminals in history were consequentialists.

The ends may or may not justify the means but the means definitely do tend to affect which ends you can actually achieve. It's why (left) anarchists argue vanguard parties will always inevitably lead to authoritarianism and never the state "withering away".

Less obviously - apparently - it doesn't mean that you must forego any means that are in any way not optimal at achieving the ends you seek to achieve because which means are available to us also tends to be limited by our material conditions. So the logical consequence is to make do with what we have while we prepare for the path we want to take, rather than diving head-first into certain failure or just giving up and picking "more realistic" short-term ends instead of looking for stepping stones.

Sorry, I guess this was about AI not philosophy.

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#46

Post by gruez »

conqrr wrote: post #34

If only agents had a face that can give you more communication range like expressions and feeling so you can trust them more. And if they were cheaper. Oh wait, that's humans, we don't want those.

I can't tell whether you're being serious or there's two levels of sarcasm here. Agents today lie and cheat, so obviously the solution is to... add features so people are even more trusting of them?

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#47

Post by datakan »

Loughla wrote: post #37
timmmmmmay wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure their coverage on other topics is truthful and informative though and it's only the ones where you know a lot about the topic where it's all a bunch of bullshit

The first time I saw the comments here on an education article (my area of expertise and career focus), I realized just how full of shit most of us are. It made me really closely consider every comment here through a VERY critical lense. The articles are usually close but not quite accurate. The comments are usually entertaining but overall wildly inaccurate.

The best comments are the ones formed as questions. I'm as guilty as anyone, but it is far more productive in comment sections to ask questions rather than saber rattle or peacock in front of people. Just my opinion of course.

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#48

Post by cwbuilds »

raincole wrote: post #27

> One of this year’s AI buzzwords is “harness”—the system that surrounds an LLM to keep agents on the straight and narrow. It might just as well be barbed wire. Quite painful to read. It might be a useful introduction to AI for people who live under rocks for the past three years, but it's really weird that it's posted on HN.

Ironically, that looks like something Claude would write..

Re: AI agents lie, cheat and steal. That is putting off users

#50

Post by the_sleaze_ »

malfist wrote: post #29
LightBug1 wrote: post #22

Need to introduce AI to God, LOL Baptise the agents. Introduce them to the dharma. Get them to recite the Shahada. Hold a Bar Mitzvah. Brand some of their silicon with hot irons. Turn them to the light, LOL

Given the track record of most religions I don't think that would help. Unless you want to maximize crusades, jihads or traumatized alter boys

Christians invented hospitals. Yours is such a tired take in 2026.

> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28814700/

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